You Made It Weird #152: Rob Bell

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Our first non-comedian guest ever, pastor and author of Love Wins and What We Talk About When We Talk About God Rob Bell, makes it wonderful and weird. Between comedy, sex, and God, you can guess which topic gets the most airtime. Enjoy, weirdos!!

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Nadia Bolz-Weber, writer of Pastrix and pastor at House for All Sinners and Saints (or what we like to call it HFASS) once said, “I don’t know how anyone can be a pastor without being a comedian first.”

So Pete was speaking about Mary ascending into heaven. This belief is referred to as the Assumption of Mary, and only has loose scriptural basis. It is strange that as a “regular” Christian, and not a Catholic, Pete would say he was taught this.

This was great! I’m a new fan of this podcast because I followed Rob here from his tumbler. So great. I just talked about Hell’s Bells on our podcast this week. As a fellow born into the faith Christian I could relate to so much you guys talked about. Truly amazing stuff!

I now know how much a sensible and honest comedian’s angle can reveal and dig a whole a lot more REAL and INTERESTING (not to mention funny, enjoyable!) stuff about a person without taking it too seriously.

Hey Pete, thanks for sharing this conversation with the world, as an avid reader of Rob Bell this was encouraging but I also liked the questions you asked and your take on things too, please be sure to get Rob back as I sense there are a million other things you would want to talk to him about…Thanks again (From New Zealand)

As much as I do enjoy hearing Petey weirdly chat with fellow comedians and actors, it was very refreshing to have him bring in a guest who’s interests touch on some of the podcasts non-entertainment topics. But (and?) because it is a topic that is taken more seriously by many people, it would be helpful to hold Rob and Pete accountable for some of the statements and arguments presented. Granting that I’m neither an expert atheist, nor producing the podcast, consider this just some weird advice.
Were you to have an atheist on, I think it would be quickly shown that we’re not an angry bunch, and that the reasons that Rob Bell are praised are due to his cherry picking atheist ideas. (i.e., It’s wonderful that large groups of people agree that the idea of Hell is awful and obviously does not exist, for all the reasons and more that were mentioned on the podcast. But those same reason’s apply to Heaven and God, and should be just as encouraged).
What I found most grating was Mr. Bell’s useful semantic dancing and strawman building. So while it’s great to hear that he doesn’t believe in the God that’s often described to him, try explaining that to the millions of Christians who’ve lived since 33 B.C.
As a host, Pete is as perfect as it comes to letting a weird idea take shape and play out. I don’t want there to be any change in his interview style (in case I do get invited to produce the show). But I think it would benefit all, Mr. Bell being a possible exception, if there was an equal amount of time and energy given to refute and challenge the many falsehoods that were aired during this episode.

I found this podcast somehow, someway and listened to it purely because Rob Bell was on it. And then you said you went to Gordon College and that is where I went – which is CRAZY because I never meet anyone that has heard of it, let alone hearing someone on a podcast that actually went there. And now I’m thinking you came and performed in the chapel when I was there 5 or 6 years ago – and you made a joke about President Carlberg looking like the E-Harmony guy. Was that you? Anyways, I think of that ALL THE TIME. Glad to have found your site!

I am not sure you listened to this talk ? ANYWAY Evolution is not random, it seems more like precise trial and error to me…natural selection. Kind of like a scientific experiment….but really ? that’s an odd way to look at it (not saying wrong) the world is random and we are lucky to be part of this random masterpiece ? Hmmmm, i dunno, that scares me even more. I would give up on life, what’s the point of being good and learning and helping others if its all random anyway hahahahaha !!! As a christian or a spiritual person i feel there is a purpose to life and experiencing life on this earth! But that does not mean i am going to go around converting people if they are doing that already without having a religion !